"Live" Sapphire Princess, 32 Days, Buenos Aires to LA, 3/5/23 to 4/6/23

[beg3yrs]

15 minutes ago, bbfbgurl said:

Hi @LACruiser88 got a question for you, do the lamps on Sapphire have the usb port for charging? Tried zooming in but pic was a bit blurry for me to see if it was or not! Thanks in advance and enjoyed reading about your experience! 

I'm not LACruiser88 but was on the Sapphire in January and February for 32 days.

 

Yes!

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, bbfbgurl said:

Hi @LACruiser88 got a question for you, do the lamps on Sapphire have the usb port for charging? Tried zooming in but pic was a bit blurry for me to see if it was or not! Thanks in advance and enjoyed reading about your experience! 

Yes, we have the new lamps.

[LACruiser88]

[LACruiser88]

[LACruiser88]

[Happiest when cruising]

13 hours ago, that said:

Deck blankets 😉

Even better.. 

[LACruiser88]

Yesterday, Ecuador had a 6.7 earthquake 195 km/121 miles from our scheduled port of Manta, Ecuador.  We are scheduled to be there on Monday, March 27th.

 

We will have to see if this will change our visit?  Our prayers and thoughts go out to those affected.  🙏🙏🙏

[LouChamp]

27 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Yesterday, Ecuador had a 6.7 earthquake 195 km/121 miles from our scheduled port of Manta, Ecuador.  We are scheduled to be there on Monday, March 27th.

 

We will have to see if this will change our visit?  Our prayers and thoughts go out to those affected.  🙏🙏🙏

Aloha. Enjoying your posts and pictures. We are praying for those affected by the earthquake.

[LACruiser88]

Today is turnaround day in San Antonio, Chile.  Santiago is 1.5 hrs away by car.

 

There are 1,079 passenger leaving and 1,018 staying from the previous voyage.  Today we will have 800+ passengers joining for the cruise back to Los Angeles.

 

We had many Argentinian, Chilean and Mexican passengers on our last voyage.  From the Spanish conversations I had, many of the Latin Americans were disembarking today.  

 

San Antonio is a major Chilean sea port and not the most attractive city (I'll post some photos later).  Having spent time in Santiago in 2011, we are staying onboard today.  The temperature has definitely warmed up, it should be in the low 70's today.

 

We have made our Sanctuary reservations for all of the sea days going home and for a couple of the port days too.

 

I just came back from a completely empty fitness center and after lunch maybe the Sanctuary???

 

[LACruiser88]

Port of San Antonio, Chile.  We are taking on fuel today.

[LACruiser88]

I tried uploading our video of the King penguin colony from Volunteer Point again.  Internet is really good right now, hope it worked this time?

[MOcruisinggardener]

Yes, the video was great! Thanks for posting it. Caused my napping cat to wake and look around...lol.

[c-boy]

56 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

I tried uploading our video of the King penguin colony from Volunteer Point again.  Internet is really good right now, hope it worked this time?

reminds me of Thanksgiving, and all the wives in the kitchen😆

[LACruiser88]

After checking out the MDR lunch menu and the buffet, we opted for Alfredo's.  Again!  We have had lunch there 3 times now.  The pizza's have been very, very, very good!

 

Onions, capers and black olives, muy rico!  They ran out of anchovies onboard.

[loge23]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

After checking out the MDR lunch menu and the buffet, we opted for Alfredo's.  Again!  We have had lunch there 3 times now.  The pizza's have been very, very, very good!

 

Onions, capers and black olives, muy rico!  They ran out of anchovies onboard.

Made our own last night and we were telling our guests that the pizza on Princess at Alfredos (and its's successor) is on par with the best this NYC native has ever had. Looks delish, enjoy!

On a another note - those pics from San Antonio reminds me of Long Beach CA.

Thanks for all the updates!

[LACruiser88]

Here is the exact passenger count for this voyage, it is a bit lower than what I was told yesterday. 

 

Blue-         409

Gold-         244

Ruby-        182

Platinum- 500

Elite-          451

 

Total=       1,786

[suekel]

And we're on.  Stopped at a vineyard after our tour of Santiago.  We're unpacked, muster done, sparkling wine drank, laundry bag filled, and a light snack from room service. Now relaxing after a really busy land tour.  Cocktails on our balcony for sailaway then dinner at Sterlings.

[vickie_bernie]

Not all cabins have the USB on the lights.  We had an ocean view on plaza that didn't.  And our friends are In a suite on Baja and they don't, see pic.  

 

All the balcony, insides and ocean views minus the one on plaza did have USB outlets.  

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by vickie_bernie

[bbfbgurl]

2 hours ago, vickie_bernie said:

Not all cabins have the USB on the lights.  We had an ocean view on plaza that didn't.  And our friends are In a suite on Baja and they don't, see pic.  

 

All the balcony, insides and ocean views minus the one on plaza did have USB outlets.  

 

 

Thanks for the heads up incase we don't but I'm hoping we do for my upcoming cruise!

[LACruiser88]

[LACruiser88]

Good morning Coquimbo, Chile.  This is the port for the nearby city of La Serena, Chile's second oldest city.

[Deisemum]

I've loving this thread, getting excited now as I've gotten the green lane on the app and making dining reservations.

 

Just interested in other peoples opinions, do you stick to the one MDR or try a different one every night even if the menu is the same?

[LACruiser88]

6 minutes ago, Deisemum said:

I've loving this thread, getting excited now as I've gotten the green lane on the app and making dining reservations.

 

Just interested in other peoples opinions, do you stick to the one MDR or try a different one every night even if the menu is the same?

We have a great window table in the Savoy MDR.  The menu is the same in all of the MDR's and we have a great team of waiters taking care of us.  No reason to try different MDR's.

[LACruiser88]

I have to call it like I see it.  Today's port of Coquimbo and sister city La Serena, makes you wonder who's cousin got an envelope stuffed with cash for making the ship stop here!

 

This was truly a port worth missing.  We made the best of it.  We walked thru a sad little flea market, the fish market and made it to their modern mall.  At the mall, Debbie got her shopping fix at H&M (along with a lot of the female crew) and we found plant-based burgers (Impossible Burgers) at the mall's Burger King.

 

I wanted to try some seafood empanadas at the fish market, but Debbie told me she would disown me if I did.  I have eaten at some sketchy places but it was a no go today. 🥺

 

Now, after two sea days, we will arrive in our first Peruvian port of Pisco.  We will also gain an hour each of the following two nights.

Edited March 20, 2023 by LACruiser88

[coo359a2]

The cousin must be a millionaire by now as we had a port stop there in 2007.